HERMIT'S VAST HOARD.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 3173, 2 December 1927, Page 3

HERMIT'S VAST HOARD.

ESTATE WORTH £249,000.

UNKNOWN AND FRIENDLESS

Strange details of the hermit life of Mr Francis Montague Muirhead, a 79----year old barrister, who lived for 18 years in a small, shabby room over a shop in West Kensington and died leaving nearly a quarter of a million pounds, are described in a London paper. Mr Muirhead, whose will was proved on July 8 last, left the bulk of his fortune, amounting to £249,000, to his two nephews. He amassed this fortune by the shrewd and far-seeing investment of a comparatively small inheritance, and died unknown and friendless. He lived in a little room, and his nextdoor neighbours, who have lived in the same street for 11 and 12 years respectively, never knew his name. "I know that he came to live here 18 years ago, after a visit to Canada," said the dead man's landlord, "but 1 'am not a talkative man, and I did not ask him many questions. I believe that he was a diligent reader and that he possessed a well-stocked library, containing a great number of valuable books. So far as I know he had no friends and nobody ever paid Mm a visit. Reading seems to have been Mr Muirhead's only indulgence." '' We often discussed Mr Muirhead,'' said a neighbour, "though none of us knew anything about him. We pitied him because he was old and lonely and —we thought—extremely poor. He was a bent, grey-haired figure who wore the shabbiest clothes and shambled along with the aid of a stick.'' Mr. Muirhead cooked some of his meals himself in his small kitchen. '' He was always a most retiring man and strongly adverse from any publicity," said Captain Charles Sturt, one of Mr Muirhead's nephews. : Captain Sturt receives one-third of the residue of the estate, when sniaH bequests have been made to other nephews, nieces and to the estate of the late Mr William Smiles, formerly London manager of the Bank of Scotland. Captain Sturt will receive approximately £60,000, and Mr Anthony Muirhead, another nephew, will receive twice that amount. Mr Johnson, the present London manager of the Bank of Scotland, also knew Mr Muirhead. "His most outstanding characteristic," said Mr Johnson, '' was his love and knowledge of literature." The deceased left nothing to charity, because, as he stated in Ms will, "I consider the present scale of death duties to be a more than sufficiently onerous burden on any man's estate." The death duties will probably amount to about £69,250.